Help Me Holy Ghost
The Person & The Work of the Holy Spirit
The essence of the Holy Spirit’s ongoing mission today can be seen in the work and worship of the church. Preachers are empowered by him, the hearts of individuals are touched by him, and the fellowship of believers is strengthened by his presence in their worship and common life. The Spirit prays for us when we cannot pray for ourselves and gives us both a new character and particular gifts that further the spread of the gospel.
The church is the creation of the Spirit and is meant to be the place where his mission is most clearly visible, but he is also at work in the world, and it is the duty of Christians to discern when this is so.
Common grace is God’s general favor by which he restrains sin and its consequences, maintains human life and culture, and bestows a variety of gifts and blessings to all people indiscriminately.
Common grace is the grace by which God cares for creation and fallen humanity by upholding and providentially guiding creation despite the devastating effects of the fall. Left to itself, sin would have destroyed and decimated creation. But God did not leave creation or humanity alone and allow sin to wreak complete havoc. Thus, after the fall, by the work of the Holy Spirit, God sustains creation by interposing his grace.
Special grace is the unmerited and irresistible favor of God by which he redeems and renews, saving sinners and restoring creation through the work of Christ and by the power of the Spirit.
Common grace restrains and compels, but special grace redeems and renews. Common grace is given to all; special grace is limited to the elect. It is special not only because it is salvific but because it is specific and only bestowed freely to God’s people.
Divine calling refers both to God’s gracious invitation to salvation by the gospel and to the means by which he brings the lost into saving relationship with Christ.
Scripture often speaks of salvation as the result of God’s call, but this language of “calling” to salvation is used in at least two distinct senses. God’s “call” is sometimes cast as his “invitation,” a general call to the lost to come to him and be saved (Matt 9:13; 22:1–13; Mark 2:17). In this sense, “calling” refers to God’s open invitation to salvation, by the gospel, to all the lost. This wider reference stands in contrast to the doctrine of election as indicated in Matthew 22:14—“Many are called, but few are chosen.” Jesus’ use of the divine “calling” terminology appears usually, if not always, in this sense.
In the New Testament Epistles, however, the terminology of divine “calling” is used exclusively with reference to those who are actually saved (Rom 8:30; 9:24; 1 Cor 1:2, 9; Gal 1:6; 1 Thess 2:12; 2 Thess 2:13–14; 1 Tim 6:12; 1 Pet 2:9; etc.). Indeed, Christians are described, simply, as “the called” (1 Cor 1:24; Heb 9:15)—an exact synonym for “those who are saved” (1 Cor 1:18).
The general call is God’s gracious gospel invitation of salvation to all the lost.
Effectual calling is the means by which God brings his elect into the experience of salvation in Christ.
Effectual calling is distinguished from the general call in that it is directed not to all people but to those whom God has chosen to save (Rom 8:28–30; 1 Cor 1:23–28). Believers are those who have been “called into the fellowship of his Son” (1 Cor 1:9). This call is “effectual” in that it ensures that those called will come (John 6:37)—all who are the objects of this call actually come to saving faith (Rom 8:30; 9:24; 1 Cor 1:2, 9; Gal 1:6; 1 Thess 2:12; 2 Thess 2:13–14; 1 Tim 6:12; 1 Pet 2:9; Rev 17:14; etc.). Indeed, “the called” and “those who are called” appear in the New Testament as titles for believers (e.g., Rom 1:6; 8:28; 1 Cor 1:24; Heb 9:15)—an exact synonym for “those who are saved” (1 Cor 1:18). The effectual nature of this calling is evident also, for example, in Revelation 19:9, where “those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb” are the very ones who are actually present at the celebration and are therefore “blessed.”
Regeneration is the divine action by which God renews the fallen creation so that it reflects his character.
For human beings, regeneration is the answer to the corruption of moral character caused by sin. It is essential for participation in the kingdom of God (John 3:3). At conversion, God grants the believer new life and a new identity in Christ. This event is so powerful that John refers to it as a new birth, a birth “from above” (John 3:3), while Paul refers to it as a “new creation” (2 Cor 5:17). In either case, the change is brought about by the Holy Spirit, who comes to indwell the believer. Those born of the Spirit receive not an extension of mortal life but eternal life, a life which has the quality of God’s own. Regeneration applies to the inner self, not to the body, but those who have received the Spirit’s inward work can anticipate the Spirit’s renovation of their physical bodies in the resurrection.
Although regeneration is an event, it need not be a conscious experience. Only God knows the precise moment in which regeneration takes place. It is not equivalent to conversion, because conversion is the human response to the gospel invitation, whereas regeneration is the divine action of renewal that (in most views) follows upon conversion.
Traditions differ on the timing of regeneration in relationship to repentance and faith. Because they believe that God is the sole cause of salvation (monergism), Reformed theologians traditionally have taught that regeneration must take place before repentance and faith since dead people cannot act until they have been brought to life again
Conversion is the process by which a person becomes a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ.
Both the Hebrew and Greek words commonly translated “conversion” in Scripture have the sense of “turning” or “returning.” In Christian conversion, someone orients his or her life on a different course, turning away from sin (repentance) and turning toward Christ in trust and commitment (faith). It involves a change of allegiance from sin, self, and Satan to Christ. In the New Testament, this change of allegiance is sometimes expressed as a change of citizenship: the convert is rescued from the domain of darkness and becomes a citizen of Christ’s kingdom, confessing Christ as Lord. Conversion is typically expressed in believer baptism.
Faith is the knowledge of, trust in, and commitment to Jesus Christ that is required for salvation.
Repentance is the act whereby one turns from his or her sin, idolatry, and creaturely rebellion and turns to God in faith.
The presupposition of repentance is the tragic phenomenon of sin. The totality of creation was made to exist in perfect fellowship with and before God, so sin represents a contradiction of the end for which the world was made. Restoration of fellowship with God, therefore, requires sinful people to forsake their rebellious posture and return to a life of creaturely peace in obedience to the Creator God. Repentance is this act of turning and returning.
In the Old Testament, the verb generally translated “repent” means “to turn around” or “return.” The term can be used in a literal sense (e.g., a hostile force “turning back” or “retreating”; Ps 9:3), but also in a more spiritual or moral sense: “Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness” (Isa 1:27).
In the New Testament the exhortation to “repent” is particularly pervasive, as seen in the earliest preaching of both John (Matt 3:1–2) and Jesus (Mark 1:14–15). The apostles continued to make this appeal in the post-ascension period: “Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven.’ ” (Acts 2:38; also applied to the Gentiles in Acts 20:21).
In systematic theology, repentance is closely related to the doctrine of faith, following, for instance, Jesus’ command to “repent and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). In the Protestant tradition, debate has centered on whether repentance is the prior condition for faith or simultaneous with it (hence an emphasis on “sorrow for sin” in certain Puritan accounts of conversion). In the Reformed “order of salvation” (ordo salutis), both faith and repentance are regarded as consequent upon the new birth, or regeneration, as that event which enables the will to incline toward God (thus maintaining the principle of sola gratia, or salvation by grace alone). In the Wesleyan-Arminian tradition, by contrast, repentance and faith are both made possible by a gift of prevenient (non-salvific) grace extended prior to conversion to all without exception.
In Roman Catholic theology, repentance is connected particularly to the sacrament of penance, whereby a priest offers the forgiveness of Christ to repentant Christians alongside the obligation to fulfill certain “acts of penance” (usually prayer, fasting, and/or alms). The sacramental nature of penance was challenged during the Reformation by theologians such as Martin Luther, who argued that the assurance of forgiveness subsequent to repentance is obtained by faith alone, occasioned through the sacrament of baptism.
Although repentance has a particular significance amongst the sequence of events collectively known as “conversion,” most theologians hold that repentance is a practice which also ought to continue in the context of the Christian life. As Luther famously put it in the first of his Ninety-Five Theses: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, “Repent,” he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” The reason for this is that, although Christians have already received the benefits of justification through the merits of Christ in terms of their standing in righteousness before the Father, they are still burdened by the “desires of the flesh” prior to glorification. Hence, the Christian life is one of continual striving, in faith, to “put to death the deeds of the body” in order to “live by the Spirit” (Rom 8:13). This process of mortification and vivification is related especially to the “dying” and “rising” depicted in the sacrament of baptism.
Through the agency of the Holy Spirit, Christians are united with Christ in his life, death, resurrection, and glorification.
The biblical depiction of salvation can be summarized as union, or reunion, with God. It is the process by which the redeemed are rescued out of a life marked by opposition to God and drawn into a life defined instead by reconciliation with him. The narrower theme of union with Christ permeates the New Testament writings. The phrase “in Christ,” for example, is pervasive, particularly in Paul’s letters (e.g., 2 Cor 12:19). This union—often referred to in the Christian tradition as the “mystical union with Christ”—is the work of the Holy Spirit, who applies and actualizes Christ’s salvific work in the life of believers. It is through and in and by the Spirit that a Christian is united to Christ and drawn into the realm of Christ’s kingdom.
All that a Christian receives from God is received “in Christ,” hence Christ’s charge to abide in him and to draw life from him in all things (John 15:1–17). Individual Christians are united with Christ in his righteous life (Phil 3:9), crucifixion (Rom 6:6), death (2 Cor 5:14), burial (Rom 6:4), resurrection to new life, and ascension (Eph 2:6). Christ walked through each of these stages on behalf of all who would one day believe in him, and the benefits and rewards of his obedience are gifted to every believer.
Union with Christ is also corporate; Christ’s church is his body, united to one another in their union with him. Christ’s high priestly prayer speaks of Christian unity as reflecting his own unity with the Father in the triune Godhead (John 17:20–23). The apostle Paul uses the imagery of a living organism to reflect this corporate unity with and in Christ: by the Spirit, Christians have become the body of Christ, joined to one another and to him just as the parts of a body are joined to and guided by the head. God the Spirit conceived and prepared a physical body for the incarnation of God the Son; likewise, the Spirit establishes and prepares Christ’s spiritual and ecclesiastical body on earth: the church.
Justification is a Christian’s judicial acceptance by God as not guilty because his sins are not counted against him.
Justification is the Christian doctrine concerning the manner in which God communicates Christ’s righteousness to believers so that they may stand as righteous before him and gain eternal salvation.
The doctrine of justification concerns the manner in which human beings come to stand as righteous before God and therefore to be saved from sin. The Old Testament speaks of humanity in general and Israel in particular as needing redemption from both the guilt and power of sin (Gen 3; 6:12; Eccl 7:20; Jer 13:23). The prophets of the Old Testament promised that God would redeem humanity by forgiving their sins, sanctifying them by his Spirit, and resurrecting the dead (Isa 43:25; Joel 2:28; Dan 12:2–3).
Jesus’ ministry centered around his gift of unilateral forgiveness to his hearers. As the “Son of Man” who would serve as the cosmic judge at the end of time (Dan 7; Matt 25), Jesus offered a proleptic verdict of forgiveness and vindication to those hearers who accepted his message. After his resurrection, Jesus commissioned the disciples to undertake a mission to the nations so that they might receive the same forgiveness and sanctification he had offered in his ministry (Matt 28; Acts 1).
The timing of justification is already/not yet: it is an eschatological judgment that can be announced in advance when someone becomes a Christian.
In the future sense, justification refers to God’s decision regarding an individual at the final judgment. However, since this decision is based on the work of Christ and the individual’s appropriation of that work, it can be declared in the present for someone who has a saving relationship with Christ. Justification is in Christ, so anyone who is in Christ is justified (or righteous). Thus, initial justification takes place when God brings someone into saving relationship with himself. With this justification, God grants the believer everything necessary to receive a favorable decision at the final judgment; whether or not one expects all believers to reach that final vindication depends upon one’s view of the permanence of salvation.
Adoption is the divine work wherein God declares regenerated believers to be his beloved sons and daughters and welcomes them into his eternal family.
Sanctification is the ongoing supernatural work of God to rescue justified sinners from the disease of sin and to conform them to the image of his Son: holy, Christlike, and empowered to do good works.
Means are the practices and sacramental gifts used by the Holy Spirit in order to progressively sanctify those who are in Christ.
the Scriptures and the Christian tradition highlight a number of other practices by which Christians may respond in faith to the sanctifying work of the Spirit. Chief among these is prayer, which functions as both a grace offered to Christians and a responsibility laid at the church’s feet. As Karl Barth put it, prayer “is an act required of us because we are given the power to perform it” (Prayer, 21; cf. Phil 2:12–13). Through prayer, Christians become aligned with the work and plans of God and are given a share in the unfolding of his will “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10).
The Scriptures also highlight the redemptive use of trials and suffering as means of sanctification. In Hebrews, for instance, the writer draws a connection between endurance and divine discipline, teaching that “God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness” (Heb 12:10). Paul, too, speaks of the “glory in our sufferings,” which leads ultimately to perseverance, character, and hope (Rom 5:3–5; cf. Jas 1:2–4, 12).
The dedication of life to works of love and hospitality is likewise a means of sanctification for individual Christians as well as the Christian community at large. The call to love one’s neighbor, “especially those who belong to the household of faith” (Gal 6:10), is a note that is heard continually throughout the New Testament, particularly in the teachings of Jesus and Paul (John 13:34; Rom 12:10; Gal 5:14; see also 1 Pet 1:22; 1 John 4:7–8). The freedom of the Christian to do good works is especially emphasized in the Epistle to the Romans, wherein Paul encourages his readers to embrace their newfound “slavery” to righteousness as a means that “leads to holiness” (Rom 6:19–23).
The permanence of salvation refers to the question of whether all Christians inevitably reach final salvation or whether it is possible for any to fall away (commit apostasy).
All four Gospels record John the Baptist’s pronouncement that Jesus Christ will baptize his followers with the Holy Spirit. The Baptist’s prophesy signals a profound transition from the Spirit occasionally anointing and filling rare individuals under the old covenant to the widespread gift of the Spirit for God’s people under the new covenant. Christ’s presence on earth, the Baptist notes, was about to usher in a previously unthinkable grace, by which God and humanity would be reconciled and reunited. His prophecy is referenced twice in Acts: once as a promise about to be fulfilled (by Christ just before his ascension in 1:5) and once as having already been fulfilled (by Peter speaking of the Gentile inclusion in 11:16). The only other scriptural reference is 1 Corinthians 12:13, where Paul speaks of a baptism “in one Spirit” that all believers share.
Though Spirit baptism is not directly mentioned elsewhere in Scripture, it may be portrayed in the events of Acts, depending upon one’s interpretation of Luke’s narrative. The germane question is whether the baptism of the Spirit is a distinct event from the indwelling of the Spirit that occurs in all believers at conversion and regeneration. Christians are split on this theological issue. Some hold that Spirit baptism is synonymous with the Spirit’s initial indwelling, while others believe it is a second act of grace only given to some believers. Much of the disagreement centers on one’s interpretation of the book of Acts.
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is one of the gifts of salvation by which God’s very presence, in the person of the Spirit, indwells the church corporately and Christians individually, drawing them into the life of the triune God.
As Jesus prepared his disciples for his departure from earth, he reassured them with the promise that the Father would send the Holy Spirit to be with them and within them (John 14:17). Through the Spirit’s indwelling, the Father and the Son would also “make our home within them” (John 14:23). The greatest gift Christ could offer was not just the promise of spiritual gifts or spiritual fruit but the promise of the very person of the Spirit within them. This promise was demonstrably fulfilled at Pentecost (Acts 2), when the Spirit publicly fell upon God’s people and supernaturally endowed the proclamation of the gospel to the nations.
The Holy Spirit applies the benefits of salvation to those whom he indwells. The indwelling of the Spirit is both corporate and individual; Christ’s church is his temple, as are individual Christians. In regeneration, the Spirit gives new life to the believer, birthing a new creation. In sanctification, God the Spirit transforms Christians into the image and likeness of Christ by developing within them the fruits of the Spirit. The Spirit also imparts divine power to his church through spiritual gifts and supernatural endowment. This power is given for the furtherance of God’s salvific mission of grace in the world. Finally, the indwelling Spirit is a “guarantee” or “pledge” of the fullness of salvation to be experienced at the final glorification of Christian believers (Eph 1:13–14).
Despite unresolved debates over spiritual gifting, all Christians can glean a number of principles from the biblical teaching. First, the Spirit gives gifts in order to empower the church for God’s mission. The gifts serve the mission and should therefore be received in humility and for service. Second, the gifts are not given to affirm any person’s power, prestige, or personal superiority. Rather, they highlight the beauty of diversity in the body of Christ and the necessity of a corporate ministry. No hero can be singled out in God’s kingdom since the gifts are spread among God’s many people. Third, the very nature of any gift is that it is unearned and is to be received with a posture of gratitude (1 Cor 4:7). The Spirit is the giver of the gift, while the human recipient is only a steward (1 Tim 4:14). Finally, the giving of gifts by the Spirit reassures believers that God will empower them for his calling. It is God himself who bears the weight of the world’s needs, and it is God who will address every one. Although he calls his children to accomplish his mission, the power and the ability to do so come from him alone.